Prior to being able to communicate in a communications network, a device generally needs to be authenticated as a valid device in the communications network and be allocated a network address so that packets may be sent and received by the device. Authenticating the device typically entails exchanging messages in a protocol, such as an IEEE 802.1X, protocol for carrying authentication for network access (PANA), Internet key exchange (IKEv2), host identity protocol (HIP), extensible authentication protocol (EAP), and the like, with an authentication server, such as an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server, an authenticator, and the like, to authenticate the device and/or a user of the device and authorize the device for use in the communications network. Network address allocation usually entails exchanging messages in a protocol, such as dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), and the like) with an address server, such as a DHCP server, to assign an address to the device.